


Your Move, Kara

by BelovedOfTheFae



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - High School, Chess, F/F, Fluff, Kara is an alien dork, and Lena inspires her to get good at it, in my defense everyone's a giant nerd canonically, in which Alex teaches Kara this dinky human board game, the tournament chess AU nobody asked for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-03 19:59:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14576535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BelovedOfTheFae/pseuds/BelovedOfTheFae
Summary: Alex had once told her as she demonstrated the moves of this odd human game that its beauty lay purely in logic.But to Kara, there was nothing logical at all about the breathtaking artistry of Lena Luthor's chessboard.





	1. Human Game

**Your Move, Kara**

**Chapter 1: Human Game**

* * *

The first time she hears about the game is during Midvale Junior High’s club fair.

What catches her eye is not the brightly painted banner reading CHESS CLUB but rather the looks of concentration on the faces clustered around the lone table in the middle.

Kara gently tugs her new sister’s sleeve. “Look!”

To her disappointment Alex just rolls her eyes. “Trust me, if you wanna get out of Loserville anytime soon I’d stay away from them.”

“But…human games!” she begs. “Please, Alex, you promised Eliza you would show me around.”

“I promised Mom I’d try and help you fit in,” Alex retorts. “Do those nerds look like they fit in?”

Kara shrugs. “They are dressed rather differently. But they look like they are having fun!”

“Danvers!”

“Crap,” Alex sighs, grabbing her hand and walking faster as they pass by. “Come on Kara, ignore them.”

“Alex Danvers, I know you can hear me.”

Finally Alex snaps, rounding on the lanky tan boy at the table who’d called her name. “What part of I’m done don’t you get, Pablo?”

The sudden outburst jars Kara’s hearing but thankfully she doesn’t lose control. Alex gives her a guilty glance before turning back.

The boy named Pablo clasps his hands. Behind him one of the two players at the game board slams a plastic piece down and yells checkmate while his opponent shakes his head in disbelief. “Come on, Alex, we need you to stand a chance against Woodridge this year. I’ll let you be assistant captain!”

Kara steps closer to the table, noticing that the boys are all looking at Alex now.

“Is that your new sister?” one of them asks, pointing right at her.

“Foster sister,” Alex corrects. “As you can see, I’ve got a lot on my plate and I don’t have time for chess.”

Kara decides to pipe up. “You know this game?”

“Know?” scoffs the only girl in the group, a bespectacled redhead. “Danvers is a total chess whiz, but she’d rather spend her time sucking up to Rick Malverne.”  
“First of all, I am not sucking up to anyone.” Alex flips her hair and smirks. “Unlike you, Amber, I don’t need to beg boys to hang out with me.”

Pablo clears his throat over the girl’s indignant squawk. “What about your sister? She looks kinda interested.”

Kara freezes and almost bolts, but Alex grabs her hand firmly.

“Her name’s Kara and she doesn’t even know how to play.”

“No problem.” Pablo grins at her. “Come to our meetings, room 305 every Friday afternoon at 3. I’ll teach you.”

“She already has a teacher!” Alex blurts.

“I do?” Kara whispers just loudly enough for her to hear.

Alex mouths a quick _go with it_ before putting both hands on her hips. “One of the best, in fact.”

* * *

The question is out of her lips the moment Alex comes home from her friend’s house.

“Did you mean what you said?”

Alex frowns in confusion. She doesn’t remember.

Kara swallows her disappointment quietly. “What you said to Pablo- that you would teach me chess.”

Understanding lights brown eyes and she hesitates.

Finally, Alex sighs. “Might as well since we have to hang out anyways. Just promise you won’t laser me when you lose.”

Kara grins, more out of happiness than from Alex’s lame joke. “Can we start now?”

Alex shrugs and walks over to the closet, digging out a cardboard box.

* * *

The castle-shaped piece called the rook slides down to her last rank and Kara realizes her king is out of moves- checkmate.

"Alex five, superpowered math genius alien girl…zeroooo.”

Kara groans. “Either you are very good at chess or I simply am not.”

“Nah, you only learned how to move the pieces an hour ago,” Alex says with an encouraging smile. “It took me like…a hundred games just to beat Mom once.”

“My mother and I would play a game like this,” Kara says wistfully. “In English the name translates to…war of two worlds?”

Alex blinks and gasps. “You high and mighty Kryptonians stooped to board games? Was it like chess?”

“In some ways.” Kara considers for a moment. “There were neither pawns nor a king that must be protected, only two pieces from each of our five guilds. Whoever captured all the opposing pieces first is the winner.”

“Doesn’t sound as complicated as I thought.”

“That is the point.” Kara pauses. “My father used to say that there was no greater equalizer than a game of strategy. Anyone can play and win regardless of guild or age or gender. All that matters is the moves you choose.”

Alex considers that for a second before smiling. “I guess board games really are universal, just like math and science.”

Kara nods and helps her set up the pieces.

This time, she doesn’t misplace any.

* * *

They play every night after that. Despite Kara’s noticeable improvement Alex proves too adroit still, too familiar with the slow advancement of pawns and the little tactics that add up until Kara’s position cracks.

By the time Friday comes again, Kara has made up her mind.

She arrives at Room 305 at precisely three o’clock post meridium (she still finds that convention odd- human military time makes far more sense).

Pablo and the other boys stare at her in the doorway in obvious surprise and Kara feels her hearing sharpen, and she thinks she should have listened to Alex after all.

Then the only other girl in the room- Amber, she recalls- greets her warmly and the worry abates slightly.

“Let’s play,” the redhead says, motioning for Kara to sit across the board. “My name’s Amber.”

She shakes the girl’s hand as Jeremiah had taught her. “I am Kara.”

Amber moves first with the white pieces, sliding her queen’s pawn two squares toward the center. It is a different opening choice from Alex’s king pawn, Kara notes before mirroring with her own pawn.

She takes a pawn that Amber offers next move and defends her far-extended one after that, but Amber moves quickly and confidently to break her chain of pawns.

Before long Kara realizes that she has been outplayed, as Alex says. Her lead in material is gone and Amber’s pieces are coming alive.

She takes a glance around the room to her immediate regret- everyone is watching the new girl’s game eagerly.

Heat creeps toward her eyes and for a brief second she can see the bones in Amber’s round face- but she wills herself to focus on the chessboard, and soon the curious boys are forgotten.

As Alex loved to remind her, no game ends until the king falls.

About fifteen moves later, her chance arises. Amber makes a careless move with her two extra pawns and Kara pounces, attacking a pawn that her hapless opponent defends without thinking.

Then Kara slides her queen supported by a bishop right next to Amber’s king, and she barely resists a victory cry.

Amber blinks with reddening cheeks, thunderstruck by her oversight.

Someone whoops mate excitedly above the chorus of murmurs.

“New girl wins,” Pablo declares, leaning over the board with a cheeky grin. “Wow Kara, unless Alex is lying you’re really good for someone who didn’t know how to play last week.”

Kara feels herself blush. “Alex says I am a fast learner, and I believe that she is a good teacher.”

“Who needs the grumpier Danvers? We got ourselves a prodigy, boys!” Pablo claps. “The next Lena Luthor, right here in sunny Midvale.”

“I am sorry, but I do not know who this Lena is.”

Pablo does not answer, only tosses her something from a cardboard box which Kara forces herself to catch slowly.

It is a thin pamphlet- a magazine, like Alex’s odd music ones.

The title reads National Chess Review; the date is from over two years ago. Adorning the cover holding a black wooden queen is a young girl of about ten, raven-haired and emotionless.

Below her, a headline:

_The Sister Also Rises:_

_Lena Luthor becomes youngest female master in U.S. history._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured since Lena's a chess prodigy in canon...why not chessplayer!Supercorp ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	2. Sibling Rivalries

Maybe older siblings were made to always lord over you, she thinks.

The chessboard was certainly no exception.

She anxiously slides her pawn to f4, anchoring her pinned bishop. The reply is instant and brutal, a black rook sacrificing itself for that minor piece so critical to her mounting attack. Within a few moves she realizes that her initiative is dead and that her position is, in fact, hopeless.

“You do know that this line of the Yugoslav Attack was proven refuted last month in the Russian Grand Prix?” A haughty sneer, then a disapproving shake of the head. “Mother expects better from you, how are you going to win Nationals when you’re not up to date with theory like the other girls?”

She hisses. “Stop lecturing me.”

“You’ve barely climbed a hundred rating points in what, a year and a half? I think a lecture is warranted.”

“I’m not you!” She stands up, snarling and slamming her chair just loudly enough to rattle the board. “I don’t care about this stupid game anymore. So sorry to disappoint, Lex.”

And with that Lena Luthor storms to her room, diving into the awaiting mountain of schoolwork.

Anything to stave off any further thoughts of chess, the impending tournament- or her brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Without further ado, enter Lena.
> 
> Bit of a tease I know...but we can't reveal too much about our favorite disgruntled prodigy yet, can we?


	3. Progress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara finally gets on the scoreboard and makes a new friend.

The first time happens in the dying days of September.

“Damn…okay you got me, I didn’t see that.”

Kara whoops and throws up her hands in joy. “How do you say it in English? ‘And the student becomes the master?’”

Alex snorts and chucks her fallen king at Kara’s face with her good arm.

(The hard plastic bounces harmlessly off her nigh-invincible skin, but Kara supposes it’s the principle of the gesture that counts.)

“It took me a hundred games to finally win one,” Kara supplies helpfully.

“One hundred and sixty-two,” Alex corrects with a smirk. “But who’s counting?”

As they clean up the board, Kara can’t help but notice the wobble of Alex’s right hand as it picks up every piece.

“I can take a look at your injury, if you would like.”

Alex stills at the quiet offer and turns her arm away to hide the stitched gash from view. “Dad said not to use your powers, remember?”

“Jeremiah said I only need to keep my secret, and you already know,” Kara says, taking off her enhanced glasses. “If something is infected, I might be able to see.”

“I’m fine!” The sudden vehemence of Alex’s voice rings Kara’s ears. “The doctor said two or three weeks is normal, and it’s only been one. The rest of us don’t have your super cells or your planet’s medical technology.”

Kara winces and regret instantly flashes across Alex’s face.

“I- I’m sorry. You were only injured because of me, I just wanted to help.”

“That’s not true, you saved that woman and her baby. I shouldn’t have gotten so close to an exploding car.” Alex sighs. “I’m the one who should apologize for holding it against you.”

Kara looks away. “If I moved faster I could have caught the door too.”

“No,” Alex says, grabbing her face. “People definitely would have seen you then. Rick’s been asking me way too many questions already, Kara. You can’t show your powers to _anyone,_ not even your new nerd friends. Okay?”

Nod. “I don’t lose control anymore.”

“Because of these?” A finger pokes her glasses.

“Only for my vision.”

Alex blinks. “What else changed?”

“I have friends now thanks to this game.” Kara smiles. “Thanks to you, Alex."

* * *

 Every Friday arrives with fanfare now, Kara thinks.

“I would like to play for the team.”

Pablo’s eyebrows inch toward his hairline. “Is Alex okay with this? Cuz I’d rather not get another earful from Miss Grouchy.”

She clears her throat. “Alex doesn’t agree but she respects my choice.”

“Doesn’t sound much like her,” Amber comments. “How’d you convince her?”

At that, Kara grins. “I beat her at chess.”

“You didn’t,” Pablo gasps over a chorus of _whats_ and _damns._

“She didn’t see a…what was the name?” Kara pauses. “Discovered attack?”

“Alex usually doesn’t miss easy tactics,” a younger boy named Richard volunteers. “You sure she didn’t go easy?”

Pablo shakes his head. “I’m pretty sure the world would end before Alex Danvers went easy on anyone. Kara’s legit.”

_Yes!_ Kara pumps her fist. “Does that mean I’m on the team?”

“Not yet,” Pablo says, motioning for her to sit at the board. “Who wants to do the honors?”

Richard immediately hops forward and takes the chair across from her.

Kara balks a bit. “Am I competing against Richard for a spot?”

“Richard?” Pablo’s face gives a flash of humor. “Nah, _Richard_ here is on the team.”

“He’s our best player,” Amber adds.

Pablo scoffs. “Okay that’s overselling him a little.”

“Underselling,” Amber counters with a stretched tongue.

“I’d say she’s just _selling_ ,” Richard pipes in. “I still have you by over a hundred rating points, Pabs.”

“Oh come on! That’s chump change.”

Kara perks up. “What are rating points?”

Pablo’s club president face returns. “Basically if you play national tournaments you get a rating. The better you get, the higher your rating climbs.”

“That sounds like a logical system,” she concurs.

Richard clears his throat. “Let’s play.”

* * *

 

It doesn’t take Kara long to realize she’s outmatched. Though his beach-tanned complexion gives away nothing, Richard moves quickly with a hand steadied by obvious years of experience.

By the early middlegame her position is already barely tenable, her center dangerously overextended.

She replies to a threat instantly- only to hang a critical pawn.

A blunder, Alex would say.

Immediately, subconsciously, she becomes aware of the eyes glued to her board.

Her hearing skyrockets, picking up the escalating _thuds_ of her own heartbeat while Richard’s ticks calmly in the background.

She takes a deep breath- and wills the pounding noise to quiet.

“We can stop if you’d like,” Richard offers.

“I’m fine,” Kara answers, for that is the truth.

Control retained, she moves again.

* * *

It only takes a couple more turns for everyone around to lose interest and resume their own games.

Kara glumly counts her material deficit- two pawns, a rook, another exchange…

She tips her king and says the words Alex taught her. “I resign.”

“Good game,” Richard offers, though she knows he doesn’t mean _close game._

Kara gulps, reluctantly taking the handshake. “I’m not going to be selected for the team, am I?”

“I dunno, you’re not bad. It’s up to Pablo.” The boy’s raven eyebrows furrow. “English isn’t your first language, is it?”

She freezes. “Wh-what makes you think that?”

“Don’t get me wrong, your pronunciation is great. No accent, either.”

“Then-”

“Word choice, the way you pause a bit when constructing sentences. Hell, I remember you didn’t use any contractions the first meeting.” He grins. “I’m a bit of a language nerd.”

Kara glances around. Only Pablo’s watching, and he’s out of earshot.

She settles on a version of the truth.

“You’re right, English is not my native tongue. Alex’s parents are friends of my family and took me in after I lost my parents in an accident.”

If your planet dying could be called an accident, Kara thinks.

Fortunately, the younger boy doesn’t pry. “I’m an orphan too.”

She smiles, partly relieved no further questions come her way.

“My name’s Kara. Nice to meet you, Richard.”

He laughs. “Only Pablo uses my full name to annoy me, call me Dick. Dick Grayson.”


	4. First Round

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team tournament begins.

“Calm down, you’re making _me_ nervous just looking at you,” Alex grumbles.  “Ugh, and queasy too. Do you Kryptonians have five stomachs or something?”

Kara only scarfs down another giant spoonful of oatmeal before frantically shoveling some eggs.

“Alex, be nice. You know this is a big day for your sister,” Eliza tuts. “Why don’t you tell Kara what playing a chess tournament is like? You went to this same one last year when you were on the team.”

Alex’s nose scrunches. “After like two games and you’ll know just how soul-suckingly boring it is being stuck in a giant hall of geeks for two days. Oh, and apparently the same team wins every year. Yay.”

Kara stops eating to protest. “We’ll beat them this year! Pablo says Dick’s the best player we’ve ever had.”

“The kid who transferred in last year?” Alex frowns. “He’s good, but Woodridge’s first board is better.”

“Win or lose, make sure to have fun, Kara,” Eliza says. “And remember, keep your powers under wraps. Alright Alex, you’re in charge while we’re gone.”

“Got it, won’t trash the place before Dad gets home.” Alex sends a smirking smile at Kara. “Good luck, nerd.”

* * *

 

The route to Coast City proved a welcome distraction from her nervous energy; verdant forest to the east and the vast blue ocean west were together a beauty otherworldly- quite literally from her perspective.

“My father said Krypton used to be green once, before I was born,” Kara sighs.

Eliza offers a comforting glance before turning back to the road. “Jeremiah says you’ve been telling Kal stories about your world.”

Despite herself, she laughs. “He finds it hard to believe that there were no birds. Speaking of which, I could have flown and saved you from having to drive me.”

“And what would you tell your friends?” Eliza smiles teasingly. “ _Hi guys, I flew here- on a bus!_ ”

Kara groans; perhaps Alex should call them parent jokes instead of dad jokes. “I just hope I don’t lose a bunch and let them all down today.”

“Sweetie no,” Eliza says, stepping on the brakes as they turn into the parking lot. “They know you’re new to this, they can’t expect you to win them every match. Remember to keep cool and enjoy yourself!”

“Will do! Thanks, Eliza.”

* * *

 

The tournament venue was an old convention center far from downtown Coast City, which made perfect sense- large enough to fit a lot of kids without costing as much as the fancy hotels from Alex’s favorite teenage drama.

Kara bounded up the steps and followed a family of four through the tinted double doors- and let out a gasp.

Standing in the brightly lit lobby were hundreds of people; though some were parents and what looked to be tournament officials, the rest ranged from very young children to teenagers older than Alex.

“Yo, Kara!”

She notices Pablo’s tall figure waving at her among the loose crowd by the red lounge chairs. To his left stands Dick, busy fiddling with a cutting-edge flatscreen phone like the one Jeremiah uses, and to Dick’s left stands… _Amber?_

“Hey Kara,” Amber says, waving with both hands. “Surprise, huh?”

“Andy came down with a bad case of chickenpox yesterday,” Dick explains, nodding at Amber without looking up from his phone. “Best we could find on short notice.”

Amber elbows him. “Rude!”

“Since neither of you have a rating yet, we get to choose who’s on third and fourth board.” Pablo hands Kara a half-sheet of paper that declares _Central Coast Scholastic Team Championship_ and below that, _Registration Form._ Most of the form has been filled out except for the roster which read:

_Team: Midvale Junior High School_

_Board 1: Richard Grayson, 2059_

_Board 2: Pablo Almeda, 1874_

_Board 3:_

_Board 4:_

_Alternate:_

“Kara should play third.” Amber’s head pokes over the top of form. “She’s pretty good.”

Kara grins despite herself, at least until Pablo shakes his head.

“Not necessarily,” he says. “We might get more wins the other way around, even if Amber has a tough time playing third. Dick?”

At that Dick finally puts away the futuristic device. “I second Kara for fourth, sorry Amber.”

“What do I write?” Kara asks.

Pablo points to the fourth row. “Kara Danvers, and the letters u-n-r for unrated. C’mon, hurry up, registration ends pretty soon.”

* * *

 

An hour passes after signups; they pass the time watching kids of various ages play blitz, or speed chess with a plastic chess clock and only five minutes total for each side.

“That’s Woodridge’s first board, only master at this tournament.” Pablo points out a boy with shaggy blond hair banging out moves with a teammate. “Kicked my ass last year.”

“Bronson?” Dick smirks, to Kara’s surprise. “Can’t be all that, saw the guy lose to the younger Luthor in like fifteen moves at Cadets.”

“That’s not saying much, Lena’s a beast,” Pablo says.

Amber rolls her eyes. “Your inner fanboy is showing, Pabs.”

A sudden influx of noise- footsteps and commotion- alerts Kara from her teammates’ banter.

“Guys, what’s happening?”

Dick cranes his head. “Looks like pairings are up.”

“Let’s go,” Pablo declares.

* * *

 

Their first opponents are _Coast City Middle School Team B._

Thankfully, Pablo does a good job explaining the rules; since unrated players were not counted toward the team rating average, Midvale was in fact the second seed and thus faced a weaker team in the first round.

The knowledge does little to quell her heartbeat as they find the other team waiting for them at the table marked “2”. Sitting at the fourth board is her opponent, a boy with black hair and glasses as oversized as hers (though not lined with lead, she assumes).

They seat themselves quickly, and the conference ballroom of several hundred quiets somewhat shortly after.

A portly and balding man takes to the podium at the near end of the room and begins to speak, but the words barely register against the anxious din in Kara’s ears.

Finally, her opponent offers the customary handshake- and presses the two-sided clock.

She makes her first move.

* * *

 

Within the first half-hour, three things becomes apparent to Kara.

One- Dick and Pablo are even better than she’s given credit for, forcing a quick mate and resignation in their respective games.

Two- if said boys are to be believed with their evaluations of team strength, Amber’s work is cut out for her; within mere minutes after the first two boards finish, Coast City B’s third board bangs out a double-rook checkmate.

Three- nobody had warned her about the pressure of being the last to finish in a team tournament.

Kara takes a pawn and hits her side of the clock, careful not to use her strength. Her position has to be winning with perfect play now, but what her opponent lacks in caution and opening technique he makes up for in speed and pure trickiness. He replies quickly, avoiding a queen trade and sending the countdown back to Kara’s time bank which has dipped dangerously low.

For the umpteenth time, she wishes her powers included super thought to match her physical quickness.

Every tick of the clock grows louder.

Three minutes.

_Two fifty-nine, two fifty-eight…_

Unable to find a forced winning line, she captures her opponent’s final pawn, cornering the king, and presses the button.

Her opponent’s heartbeat races to life, and too late she notices her mistake.

The black queen slides across the board next to her king, sacrificing itself.

Her capture is the only legal reply, and the solitary opposing king has no more moves.

Stalemate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pretty much an accurate depiction of competitive play.
> 
> Chess tournament? More like stress tournament amirite


End file.
